Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent 514,169 - Reciprocating Engine Patent Wrapper Page 11

56 TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: BE IT KNOWN, That I, NIKOLA TESLA, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the County and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in RECIPROCATING ENGINES of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same. 4 In the invention which forms the subject of my present application, my object has been, primarily to provide an engine, which under the influence of an applied force such as the elastic tension of steam or gas under pressure will yield an oscillatory movement which, within very wide limits, will be of constant period, irrespective of variations of load, frictional losses and other factors. which in all ordinary engines produce change in the rate of reciprocation. The further objects of the invention are to provide a mechanism, capable of converting the energy of steam or gas under pressure into mechanical power more economically than the forms of engine her et ofore used, chi efly by overcoming the losses which result in these by the combination with rotating parts possessing great inertia of a reciprocating system; which also, is better adapted for use at higher temperatures and pressures, and which is capable of useful and practical application to general industrial purposes, particularly in small units.